Statement of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights on President Trump’s Nomination of a New Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

As legal organizations dedicated to securing the freedom and equality of LGBT persons through the courts, we call on the President to nominate, and the Senate to confirm, a new Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States who has a demonstrated commitment to the legal equality of the full diversity of LGBT people and their families, and who will honor past Supreme Court decisions recognizing that equality.

Our organizations have represented the plaintiffs in many cases before the Supreme Court that have firmly established the principle over the past 20 years that our Constitution requires equal treatment of LGBT persons under the law, including the freedom to marry.

Further, as organizations dedicated more broadly to our democracy’s fundamental promises of justice and equality, we call on the Senate to reject any nominee to the Court who does not clearly affirm a commitment to upholding the Constitution’s guarantees of liberty and equal protection for all Americans.

Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation. www.glad.org

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. www.lambdalegal.org

NCLR is a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, legislation, policy, and public education. www.nclrights.org